Functional, Structural, and Metabolic Central Nervous System Changes Following Damage of the Central Nervous System

The objective of this study is to better understand the structural and functional changes that the central nervous system (CNS) undergoes following spinal cord injury and how these changes relate to clinical measures. Both macroscopic and microscopic changes of the brain and the spinal cord will be examined in SCI patients and compared to healthy controls. In terms of structural plasticity, we aim to identify MR biomarkers that allow predicting the course of the patient's neurological status and accurately describe the course of the disease and the recovery. Importantly, we aim to investigate which factors scale the patients' symptoms. In terms of functional plasticity, we will combine fMRI with behavioural testing to understand which clinical and behavioural determinants drive functional hand representations in the primary somatosensory and motor cortices to be maintained and which determinants drive reorganisation of functional representations following sensory input loss. We will further investigate the contribution of brainstem reorganisation to plasticity observed at the cortical level and, by doing so, aim to better understand the mechanistic underpinnings of functional reorganisation.